CSR – CHALLENGING

QUESTIONS
Professor Tom Watson
Bournemouth University
Agenda
• What is CSR?
• Width of application
• Imagery of CSR
• CSR and Cause Marketing
• CSR and Social Investment
• Critical approaches
• Developing a CSR checklist
Roots of CSR
• ‘Welfare capitalism’ of late C19
• Religious - Quakers in UK; Parsees in India
• Post-war business ethics movement (Caux Round Table,
etc)
• Obverse of Friedman’s argument that responsibility of
executives is conduct businesses “to make as much
money as possible while conforming to their basic rules of
society, both those embodied in law and those embodied
in ethical custom” (1970: 1)
Definitions of CSR
• “The basic idea of CSR is that business and society are
interwoven rather than distinct entities; therefore society
has certain expectations for appropriate business
behaviour and outcomes” (Wood 1991: 695)
• “Corporate social responsibility is a commitment to
improve community well-being through discretionary
business practices and contributions of corporate
resources” (Kotler & Lee, 2005)
• “(CSR is) practices that improve the workplace and
benefit society in ways that go above and beyond what
companies are legally required to do” (Vogel, 2006)
More definitions
• “To advance CSR, we must root it into a broad
understanding of the interrelationship between a
corporation and society while at the same time anchoring
it in the strategies and activities of specific companies”
(Porter & Kramer, 2006: 78-92)
• “To fully meet their social responsibilities, companies
“should have in place a process to integrate social,
environmental, ethical and human rights concerns into
their business operations and core strategy in close
collaboration with their stakeholders”
(European Commission, 2011: 3)
What business schools teach
• Taken from business book slides:

• CSR activities are the processes by which companies negotiate

their role in society
• CSR helps companies hire and retain the staff they want
• CSR activities contribute to business performance
But
• Companies can engage in CSR activities even while they are
acting in unethical ways (e.g. Enron and Parmalat)
Nailing jelly to the wall?
• Numerous definitions and parameters
• Increasingly focused on financial performance; less
emphasis on ethical and societal
• Cause marketing presented as a form of CSR
• ‘CSR’ PR and marketing programmes
Width of CSR

Social
Investment

Cause
Marketing Pragmatic Philanthropy

Licence to
Operate;
Risk
Management
IMAGERY OF CSR
Image summary
• Lots of globes and hands (open, passive)
• Globe positions emphasise poor nations
• Images of (either) sharing/togetherness “in our hands” or
control/protection
• Colours are mainly green (nature) and blue (water)
• Images of CSR are “an admixture of fear, hope and a low-
down sense that ultimately someone will save us” (Fleming
& Jones, 2013: Preface)
CSR AND CAUSE
MARKETING
Pepsi Refresh Project (PRP)
• Encourage Americans to Do Good by participating on a
digitally-led community relations project funded by Pepsi
• Objectives
1. Raise awareness and interest in PRP; position Pepsi
as the optimistic catalyst for idea creation;
2. Generate a steady stream of national, local and
online media buzz to support business and brand
goals;
3. Drive Americans to the campaign website,
RefreshEverything.com.
PRP strategy
• Position Pepsi as a credible motivator to empower
ordinary Americans as “the next social entrepreneur”, with
a national spotlight on the implementation of ideas;
• Collaborate with employees and business partners to
generate local news and drive awareness;
• The website to be promoted as the online destination to
Do Good; encourage individuals to submit ideas and vote;
• Encourage online engagement with PRP on Facebook
and Twitter;
• Develop national partnerships that enable stories to be
told of PRP’s impact and reach.
Execution
• Extensive media coverage was based on milestone
events, including the Super Bowl, and presentations to
grant recipients
• Launch event was held at the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE)
• Partnerships were built with celebrities and performing
artists to encourage participation by youth
• Specific actions were targeted at the Gulf states of
southern USA after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• Digital engagement was monitored and given real-time
responses
• Thought leader events created
Measurement
1. Raise awareness and interest: 37% of Americans were
aware of PRP, compared with 12-21% for similar cause
marketing programmes;
2. Generate a steady stream of media buzz: The media
impressions goal was exceeded by nearly 12-fold;
3. PRP received 140,000 tweets and over 2 million
Facebook ‘likes’, both well above target
4. Interaction with the campaign website increased brand
attributes (favourability, intent, and trust) significantly,
as well as intent to purchase Pepsi among Millennials
5. Drive Americans to RefreshEverything.com: 18 million
unique visitors over 11 months in 2011 resulting in 76
million votes on 12,000 projects, with 2 million online
comments
But…
• Pepsi consistently lost market share and volume;
dropped to third place behind Coke and Diet Coke
• PRP quietly shut down in early 2012: Website
http://refresheverything.com diverts to Pepsi Pulse
http://www.pepsi.com/en-gb/d
• Sales and market share were the ultimate evaluation,
not social capital or ‘doing good’
CSR AND SOCIAL
INVESTMENT
Social Investment (SI) at Shell UK
• Social Investment (SI) portrayed as “beyond CSR” and
Shell’s “voluntary contribution to the UK which has a
positive legacy”

• Why “beyond CSR”? “Shell has to act responsibly in all

activities. Social investment goes beyond the norms of
responsible behaviour and CSR, as it gives back to the
community and encourages innovation.”

• “Licence to operate is not dependent on SI” (e.g. support

for young entrepreneurs doesn’t not directly impact on
new pipeline construction)
SI and sponsorship strategy
• Linked to operational business footprint and of importance
to the community
• Three legs to Shell’s approach
• Inspire enthusiasm in science, technology,
engineering and maths
• Encourage key behaviours – entrepreneurship, low
carbon innovation
• Support initiatives that develop creativity, teamwork
and social responsibility
• Engage staff in SI and sponsorships
CRITIQUE
Critical approaches to CSR
Challenge to CSR - 1
• Does corporate social responsibility exist?

• Three critical perspectives of CSR

• “CSR is a kind of panacea that one day cures the ills of corporate
capitalism, if applied ardently”.
• “CSR as an instance of propaganda”
• “CSR as a kind of parasitical foray into the community” which
pushes corporate interests in the non-corporate social world of
NGOs and voluntary groups (Fleming & Jones 2013: 81)
Challenge to CSR - 2
• CSR is blind to society’s needs and is only interested in
the extension of corporate power
• MNCs are not interested in dialogue with stakeholders;
they want a licence to operate
• CSR exists to maintain the capitalist system, especially
the ‘neo-liberal’ form
Critical approaches
“The end of CSR? Again we state that it never really began
– in the sense that the majority of its proponents claim to
free us somehow from the excesses of a system that is
itself excessive (i.e. neo-liberal capitalism)”
Fleming & Jones, 2013: 96
CSR CHECKLIST
Developing a CSR checklist
• Reinstate moral/ethical core
• Prepare as a sustainable activity
• Respond to ‘critical’ attack
• Aid managers and communicators in planning and
implementing strategies and programs
A CSR checklist
• Motives? Something being hidden?
• Dialogue before CSR policies are announced?
• Employees and other stakeholders involved?
• Long-term commitment or short-term advantage?
• Mutually beneficial outcomes or ‘licence to operate’?
• Resources to implement?
• Senior management “owns” the policies? Or functional
task?
• CSR governance structure?
• Assessment of ‘value’ and ‘benefit’?
• Is policy ethical? Can you live with it?
References and resources
• European Commission (2011). Responsible industry. Enterprise and Industry on-
line magazine, 3
• Fleming, P., & Jones, M. (2013). The End of Corporate Social Responsibility.
London: Sage.
• Friedman. M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its
Profits. New York Times Magazine, 13 September.
• Kotler, P. & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility– Doing the Most Good
for Your Company and Your Cause. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, USA.
• Porter, M.E., and Kramer, M.R. (2006). Strategy & society: The link between
competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business
Review, 84(12), 78-92.
• Vogel, D. (2006). The Market for Virtue – The Potential and Limits of Corporate
Social Responsibility. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
• Wood, D. (1991). Corporate social performance reviewed. Academy of
Management Review, 16, 691-718.
• Bida, C. (2012) Why Pepsi Canned the Refresh Project. Marketing Causes Blog,
Media Post, 29 October, 2012,
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/186127/why-pepsi-canned-the-
refresh-project.html
QUESTIONS AND
DISCUSSION